Parting is such sweet sorrow for Steve Rider and his locks

Worrying signs in ITV’s London studio, where, after three weeks in close captivity, two strands of Steve Rider’s hair appear to be trying to make a break for it.

If the rebellion takes hold and gathers momentum across Rider’s hitherto impeccably controlled scalp, we don’t like to think of the consequences for the channel’s coverage of the rugby World Cup knockout stages. We could be looking at total hair anarchy, which could get very ugly indeed, as well as being a potential fire hazard under the lights.

The twin rebel strands in question were spotted before England’s match against Romania. Both were located to the right, as one looked, in the notoriously hard-to-police “parting zone” — one at the front of Rider’s head and the other…